[2] Jack Lawrence was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Orthodox Jewish family of modest means as the third of four sons.
Lawrence started writing songs as a child, but because of parental pressure after he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, he enrolled in the First Institute of Podiatry, where he received a D.P.M.
In the early 1940s, Lawrence and several fellow hitmakers formed a sensational review called "Songwriters on Parade", performing all across the Eastern seaboard on the Loew's movie-theater and Keith vaudeville circuits.
One of Lawrence's first major songs after leaving the service was "Yes, My Darling Daughter", introduced by Dinah Shore on Eddie Cantor's radio program and covered by The Andrews Sisters in a ballad version in 1941 on Decca Records.
Among the many record covers the song had, the one I truly felt captured the fun of the lyric was the first teaming of The Andrews Sisters with Bing Crosby.
Lawrence also wrote the lyrics for "Tenderly", Sarah Vaughan's first hit and Rosemary Clooney's trademark song (in collaboration with composer Walter Gross), as well as the English-language lyrics to Charles Trenet's La Mer" under the title "Beyond the Sea," which became Bobby Darin's signature song.
Another French song for which Lawrence wrote English lyrics was "La Goualante de Pauvre Jean", becoming "The Poor People of Paris".
Together with Richard Myers, Lawrence wrote "Hold My Hand", which was featured in the film Susan Slept Here and nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Song.
Jack Lawrence collaborated with composer Ray Hartley on Dawning of Love, Whispers in the Wind (1958), and Darling, He's Playing Our Song (1959).
Lawrence wrote in his autobiography how surprised and touched he was that his Orthodox Jewish family, which had rarely acknowledged his homosexuality or the existence of their longtime partnership, was gracious and kind to him as he mourned Myden.